Jackaroo (Point Signature) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Cynthia Voigt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Previously available in a Fawcett edition, this sweeping historical adventure/romance is the first volume of the Kingdom cycle, which also includes On Fortune's Wheel and The Wings of a Falcon. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up An intense and elegantly written historical adventure-romance set in "a distant time and far-off place." Gwyn, the high-spirited daughter of the innkeeper, finds a disguise she believes to be that of the legendary Jackaroo, a figure whose actions resemble those of Robin Hood. Gwyn decides to use Jackaroo's disguise to help those less fortunate than she. But readers soon learn that there are several other individuals who masquerade as Jackaroo, each for his own selfish or unselfish reasons. Jackaroo will stimulate the imagination and make readers marvel at Voigt's creative genius. She presents a carefully designed, mystery-filled plot which once again illustrates her abilities as a master storyteller. Characters are somewhat reluctant to reveal themselvesbut this is a most appropriate style for a tale of dangerous and uncertain times. Jackaroo will cause readers to pause and consider the process of legend making and the changes that take place in the retellings of legendary deeds. Karen P. Smith, Yonkers Board of Education, N.Y.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 291 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590485954
• ISBN-13: 978-0590485951
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,587,684 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't despair! It gets better!, July 26, 1999

By A Customer

If you can make it through the first half of this book, you'll love it. I read about five chapters when I first bought it, get bored, and threw it under the bed to age for a couple of years. When I finally did finish it, it became my second favorite book. Adventure, action, and emotional twists happen in this book, but you have to wade through a deceptively bland beginning to get to it. Read it twice and I promise you'll find stuff in it that fascinates you, even though you swear it wasn't there before.

But, to the book itself - Voight has the most masterful control over her characters of any author I know. Gwen is practical, strong, sharp, and, as someone else says down here, "worth emulating." She does what we all dream of doing - become a hero: Jackaroo, who is something like our Robin Hood, only distinct in his own right. Only she finds out being a hero isn't as easy as she suspected. What I found interesting was the power of a legend, and how people could manipulate it to their purposes, but could never really control it.

This book is a thinking book. The danger it presents is mainly not through action but through concepts. No matter what you're expecting, this book will probably deliever something different, unless you've read Voight before. But give it a chance - when I finally, did, I fell in love with it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars just as good the second time around, March 20, 2004

By	SJbooknut (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jackaroo: A Novel of the Kingdom (Mass Market Paperback)

I had read Jackaroo several years ago--probably 12 or 13 years now--and only remembered the basic story when I read it again with my son. He's a 10-year-old boy, and in the first few chapters, he would ask, "When is it going to get good?"--for a boy his age, it was a rather slow start, but I enjoyed the descriptions, the setting up of the story. But once Gwyn was trapped in Old Megg's house with the lordling, he was hooked and many nights he begged for another chapter. And he didn't even mind that it had a mushy, romantic ending, which is saying a lot.
I loved the characters of Gwyn and Burl--I'm not quite sure what book one of the other reviewers was reading who said the characters were one-dimensional. And what's so bad about a nameless kingdom? It's not as finely drawn as Tolkien's Middle Earth, that's true--but then I wasn't reading it as a fantasy reader. I just like a good story with good characters, and Jackaroo certainly delivers that.
I do agree that both Tad and Gaderian were not much like 10-year-old boys that we see in 20th/21st century America, but that is not where they were living. They were living in a time and place where Gwyn was almost considered an old maid at age 16!
We are going to read On Fortune's Wheel next (the next Kingdom book) but will probably skip Elske because it's too girly. I've read On Fortune's Wheel before, and I'm looking forward to re-reading it as well.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cohesive, finely tuned, September 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jackaroo (Hardcover)

It was only when I reached university and re-read this book that I realized how subtly drawn and complete Voigt's characters were. Where a less observant reader quickly bored of Voigt's dwelling on descriptions of everyday phenomena, I finally noticed what interaction was revealed, and what depth each character portrayal went to. By the book's end I was thoroughly engaged in the characters' lives, perceptions, and feelings, and could only applaud the plot restraint Voigt demonstrated in pacing out and finally finishing this novel. It remains one of my favourites.